1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method for inspecting axis dislocation of a multifiber connector for inspecting axis dislocation of optical fibers attached to the multifiber connector.
2. Description of Related Arts
A multifiber connector is butt jointed with the other multifiber connector by engaging its guide pin with a pin hole of the other connector and it is constituted by a plurality of optical fibers, for example, tape fibers inserted into a ferrule made of plastic and fixed by an adhesive. On the above ferrule, fiber holes into which the plurality of optical fibers are inserted are precisely formed with a predetermined pitch.
However, when the accuracy in forming these holes is poor, axes of the optical fibers to be butted are dislocated in butt joint with the other multifiber connector, which would cause joint loss and prevent stable optical communication.
Thus, as for the multifiber connector, it is necessary to inspect dislocation of axis of each of the optical fibers by temporarily fitting or bonding the optical fibers for quality control purpose after manufacture of the ferrule.
As a method for such inspection, there is a method to inspect axis dislocation of each of the optical fibers by analyzing an image of an inspection light at a connector end surface transmitted through each of the optical fibers using an image processing technique. Also there is a method to inspect axis dislocation of each of the optical fibers in a multifiber connector by butt jointing multifiber connectors with each other, then measuring joint loss.
However, in using the image processing technique, there has been a problem that an expensive optical stage on which the multifiber connector to be measured can be positioned with accuracy on a plane is needed and the time required for measurement is long.
In the meantime, in measuring the joint loss, there has been a problem that axis dislocation can not be quantitatively grasped as the position of each of the optical fibers is not measured.